JP Morgan has been appointed co-underwriter on Sberbankâs $7.6bn (â¬5.8bn) additional share issue, after working on the Russian bankâs $1.5bn syndicated loan last year and oil company Rosneftâs landmark $10.4bn initial public offering in July.

JP Morgan will work with Credit Suisse on state-owned Sberbank’s additional $7.6bn domestic share offering in February, prior to its $8.5bn London float due in May, according to Russian daily Vedomosti.

The lender's main Russian rival, Vneshtorgbank, is also planning a London listing in the first quarter of 2007 and will launch a $4.6bn additional share offering in February. The state-owned bank hopes to raise about $2bn from its float, which is being led by Citigroup and Deutsche Bank.

Sberbank and Vneshtorgbank are hoping for better results than their rivals. Earlier this year Rosbank and the banking arm of Gazprom pulled their London listings in favour of alternate financing. Rosbank sold a stake to Société Générale and Gazprom’s banking arm sold a holding to its own pension fund.